'Net Features : wm-sociallmediahttp://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/tags/wm-sociallmedia/default.aspxTags: wm-sociallmediaenCommunityServer 2008 SP2 (Build: 31104.93)Poker Winnings & Tech Disrupt Flower Industryhttp://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/02/12/poker-winnings-disrupt-flower-industry.aspxThu, 12 Feb 2015 14:12:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:40923Amberly Dressler0http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=40923http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/02/12/poker-winnings-disrupt-flower-industry.aspx#comments<hr />
<p><strong>With no stock images on their site, higher sales for local florists and plenty of e-marketing to boot, BloomNation is taking a gamble on its tech-supported floral marketplace.</strong></p>
<p>A company that started with poker winnings, has picked up investments from Andreessen Horowitz, Ronny Conway, Spark Capital, Chicago Ventures, CrunchFund and Mucker Capital along the way. BloomNation.com&#39;s popularity has no doubt stemmed from its unique approach to selling floral arrangements. For example, all photos on BloomNation are of the florists&#39; actual work, they provide same-day hand delivery with flowers already in a vase and artistically designed (no more flowers in a box) and customers will even receive a &quot;<a target="_blank" href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2014/02/28/quieting-twitter-haters-in-a-snap.aspx">BloomSnap</a>,&quot; a photo of the completed order before it&#39;s delivered so they know that what they ordered is what the recipient will get (in turn, they avoid these <a target="_blank" href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2014/02/17/5-twitter-takeaways-from-valentine-s-day-disasters.aspx">Valentine&#39;s Day disasters</a>).</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.bloomnation.com/?source=websitemagazine">BloomNation</a> is becoming quit disruptive in the flower industry because of its tech and e-marketing-fueled approach, so Website Magazine caught up with CEO and Co-Founder of BloomNation.com, Farbod Shoraka to learn more - just in time for Valentine&#39;s Day, of course.</p>
<p><strong>In what ways is BloomNation.com different from other websites in the flower industry?&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><span></span><span><strong>Farbod Shoraka:</strong></span><span>&nbsp;</span>Other sites in the flower industry are just wire services, which means when you order arrangements from those sites, that order gets wired to a local florist in your recipient&rsquo;s area. You have absolutely no idea who your order is getting wired to (meaning it could be a florist with a 1-star average on Yelp). The images on said wire services are just stock images of very basic, cookie-cutter designs. Local florists are just following a recipe to create your arrangement without getting the opportunity to promote and sell their original creations online. (These florists may not even have those flowers or the vase you fell in love with in their store that you see in the stock images, ultimately meaning the florist will substitute the design with whatever they have that&rsquo;s available). With no transparency between you and the florist, the florist has no way to contact you to let you know that they will have to substitute. &nbsp;</p>
<p><span> </span>BloomNation, however, displays images of florists&rsquo; actual original creations &mdash; stock photos are not even permitted on the site. There&rsquo;s 100 percent transparency between you and the florist where you&rsquo;re able to compare local florists&rsquo; reviews, styles and prices all in one place as the site is an online flower marketplace. With no stock images, you can be ensured that the local florist you&rsquo;re shopping directly with has the experience of creating the arrangement you see online. In addition, you&rsquo;ll even receive a BloomSnap, which is a photo of your completed order before anything is hand delivered (eliminating flowers delivered in a box once and for all) so you know that what you ordered is what the recipient will receive (it&rsquo;s actually a huge issue in the flower industry that customers don&rsquo;t get what they paid for). And of course, BloomNation offers same-day hand delivery.</p>
<p><img height="184" width="450" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/chicago-bloomnation.png" style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" alt="" /></p>
<p><span> </span>For the over 3,000 artisanal florists part of BloomNation, the company creates a variety of e-commerce tools for them to bring their physical business to the online world, including a free custom website, floral photo shoots of their actual images (see image below), PR opportunities, SEO optimization, a POS system for free and more. Florists also receive 90 percent of each sale, whereas on other flower sites, florists only end up with about 50 percent of the complete order after all is said and done, ultimately either breaking even or losing money on the sale.</p>
<p><img style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/bloomnation-page-example.png" width="450" height="519" alt="" /></p>
<p><strong>What are a couple ways that BloomNation is using digital channels (e.g. apps, email, social, etc.) to provide a seamless customer experience?&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><span> </span>You&rsquo;ll get a confirmation email that your order has been placed. You&rsquo;ll then get your BloomSnap, which is the photo of your completed order before it&rsquo;s hand delivered. Afterwards, you&rsquo;ll get an email letting you know that the flowers have been delivered. This is to keep you up-to-date on your flower ordering process so you&rsquo;re not left wondering where in the world your flower order is. There&rsquo;s also an option to share your BloomNation order on social media. In doing so, you&rsquo;ll actually get reimbursed a few dollars from your order.</p>
<p><strong>Similarly, how does BloomNation&rsquo;s efforts in these e-marketing channels support and/or increase revenue for participating florists?</strong></p>
<p><span> </span>Through wire services, you have no idea which florist is creating your design. It could be an incredible florist or it could be the town&rsquo;s worst &mdash; but you&#39;ll never know because there&rsquo;s no transparency. BloomNation lets you shop directly with more than 3,000 top local artisanal florists nationwide. You can compare reviews, prices and florists&rsquo; information and background all in one place. If the florist does a good job, you&rsquo;ll want to use this florist again &mdash; ultimately giving local florists new and retaining business that they would never have had otherwise.</p>
<p><span> </span>BloomNation also highlights its local florists&rsquo; designs through consumer emails, through social media, through PR and marketing opportunities and more. BloomNation gets florists national exposure yet lets them keep their local identity.</p>
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<h4><img style="float:left;" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/subarrow.png" width="20" height="20" alt="" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/email_newsletter.aspx?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=WMcontent-oct14">Request Website Magazine&#39;s Free Weekly Newsletters&nbsp;</a></h4>
<hr /><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=40923" width="1" height="1">wm-ecommercewm-sociallmediaBloomNation.comValentine's Day 20154 Social Media Updates to Make Right Nowhttp://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/02/04/4-social-media-updates-to-make-right-now.aspxWed, 04 Feb 2015 18:30:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:40731Amberly Dressler9http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=40731http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/02/04/4-social-media-updates-to-make-right-now.aspx#comments<hr />
<p>In the race to win brands&rsquo; advertising dollars, social media networks are pushing out updates faster than consumers can hit like, retweet or pin.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In the last few weeks alone, Pinterest improved its <a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/26/pinterest-proves-it-s-for-men-too.aspx" target="_blank">guided search</a>, Twitter offered <a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/28/twitter-lets-complainers-unite.aspx" target="_blank">group messaging</a> and Facebook <a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/21/facebook-cleans-up-the-news-feed-once-again.aspx" target="_blank">cleaned up its newsfeed</a> (again). Website Magazine details these many updates in our <a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/social-media/default.aspx" target="_blank">Social Media Mavens channel</a> as well in our new feature, <a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/30/social-snapshot-january-2015.aspx" target="_blank">Social Snapshot</a>. To help brands stay even further abreast of what they need to do to make the most of their social pages and efforts, here are four social media updates to make right now.</p>
<h3>1.<span> </span><a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/28/calls-to-action-on-facebook-business-pages.aspx" target="_blank">Add a CTA on Facebook</a></h3>
<p>No good piece of marketing is complete without a call-to-action (CTA) and a Facebook page is no different. Page administrators can now easily add a CTA near the cover photo on their business pages. They can select from the following &ldquo;buttons&rdquo;: book now, contact us, use app, play game, shop now, sign up and watch video. While Facebook does report the number of actions occurring from the chosen CTAs (page admins will see them to the right of their cover photos), marketers can also direct users to a unique URL that has further tracking, such as one created through Google Analytics&rsquo; <a href="https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867?hl=en" target="_blank">URL Builder</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/pick-a-cta-facebook.png" width="530" height="287" alt="" /></p>
<h3>2.<span> </span><a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/20/add-social-profile-info-to-google-s-knowledge-graph.aspx" target="_blank">Add Social Profiles to Google&rsquo;s Knowledge Graph</a></h3>
<p>Companies can now add their social profile information to the Google Knowledge panel in some Web searches (what shows off to the right of a search engine results page). The knowledge panels prominently display a brand&rsquo;s social profile information, which makes connecting with a brand on the various social networks that much easier for consumers. It might also aid in other brands&rsquo; efforts to find a company&rsquo;s Twitter handle, for example, to include them in a tweet, as finding handles on the network itself can sometimes be cumbersome. By making it easier for everyone to find social media accounts, a brand may benefit from increased exposure.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Social media managers may need the help of their Web developer to implement this update, but Google makes it easy for them to <a href="https://developers.google.com/webmasters/structured-data/customize/social-profiles" target="_blank">format and publish</a> the proper markup code. &nbsp;</p>
<p><img style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/socialprofiles-knowledge-graph.png" width="550" height="319" alt="" /></p>
<h3>3.<span> </span>Get Twitter Cards</h3>
<p>Another update that will likely need some assistance from a Web developer to execute, Twitter Cards are a surefire way to increase engagement. Once the metatags for Twitter Cards are added to a Web page (<a href="https://dev.twitter.com/cards/overview" target="_blank">and a few other steps are followed</a>), rich photos, videos and other media experiences will automatically be pulled from the URL that a company is sharing. The additional media will display below the tweet. This is a must-do update because photos and videos are proven to increase favorites, retweets and other positive actions on the network. Here&rsquo;s an example of a Summary Card with Large Image.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/webmag-co-twitter-cards.png" width="550" height="474" alt="" /></p>
<h3>4.<span> </span>Download the Pin It Button for Chrome</h3>
<p>As the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2651645/Google-Chrome-overtakes-Internet-Explorer-time-used-web-browser-U-S.html" target="_blank">most-used</a> Web browser, Chrome is not only popular but it&rsquo;s also pretty smart. The wide variety of extensions available on the browser make it even smarter for Web professionals. The&nbsp;<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pin-it-button/gpdjojdkbbmdfjfahjcgigfpmkopogic?hl=en" target="_blank">Pin It Button for Chrome</a>, in particular, is a must download for social media managers. This extension makes sharing relevant and engaging content on Pinterest a breeze. This is because not all websites that have great content, have great sharing tools. Even when sites have their own Pin It button, for example, they don&rsquo;t always render a photo to include in the Pin, and Pinterest is all about the photo. When signed in on a Pinterest account, the Pin It extension will automatically create a Pin (without having to go to Pinterest.com) and then users can alter the text or which board he or she wants to pin to. Overall, sharing content with a brand&rsquo;s Pinterest followers just got easier, as the extension follows the user from site to site and he or she can share at will and more regularly. In other words, Pinterest is no longer an afterthought.</p>
<p><img style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/pin-it-extension-example.png" width="550" height="415" alt="" /></p>
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<h4><img height="20" width="20" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/subarrow.png" style="float:left;" alt="" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/email_newsletter.aspx?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=WMcontent-oct14">Request Website Magazine&#39;s Free Weekly Newsletters&nbsp;</a></h4>
<hr /><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=40731" width="1" height="1">wmfeaturetwitter cardswm-sociallmediaPin It extensionLet Treepodia Fetch Product Videos for Youhttp://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/02/02/let-treepodia-fetch-product-videos-for-you.aspxMon, 02 Feb 2015 16:10:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:40661Amberly Dressler0http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=40661http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/02/02/let-treepodia-fetch-product-videos-for-you.aspx#comments<hr />
<p>Once a viewer watches a product video, they are <a target="_blank" href="https://blog.kissmetrics.com/product-videos-conversion/">60 percent-plus</a> more likely to buy. Product videos, however, usually don&rsquo;t come cheap &ndash; even with improving smartphone cameras. This is where Treepodia&rsquo;s YouTube Fetcher comes it. The new service uses what&rsquo;s already available on the Web to upload YouTube videos by experts, brands and individual reviewers and match it with retailers&rsquo; individual product pages.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>Once collected, the videos can be reviewed and approved before being automatically uploaded to the relevant product pages. Retailers can also be confident that the right videos are choses, as when more than two videos are fetched, they are A/B tested against each other and the system automatically promotes the best converting one for further optimization.</span></p>
<p>After using YouTube Fetcher, electronic appliance retailer ElectricShopping.com increased unit sales by 37 percent.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Treepodia&#39;s YouTube Fetcher service located many product videos from YouTube. &nbsp;Some of them increased our sales three fold,&rdquo; said ElectricShopping.com CEO Rob Levy. &nbsp;&ldquo;These videos contained excellent demonstrations and reviews that gave shoppers a credible source of information. &nbsp;We think it helped them shop with confidence, especially for products that were expensive or complex to use.&rdquo;</p>
<p><img height="436" width="407" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/treepodia-play-video.png" style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" alt="" /></p>
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<h4><img style="float:left;" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/subarrow.png" width="20" height="20" alt="" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/email_newsletter.aspx?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=WMcontent-oct14">Request Website Magazine&#39;s Free Weekly Newsletters&nbsp;</a></h4>
<hr /><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=40661" width="1" height="1">treepodiawm-ecommercewm-sociallmediaTreepodia YouTube FetcherYouTube videosSocial Becoming a Hot Spot for Product Discovery http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/30/social-becoming-hot-spot-for-product-discovery.aspxFri, 30 Jan 2015 18:30:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:40619Amberly Dressler0http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=40619http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/30/social-becoming-hot-spot-for-product-discovery.aspx#comments<hr />
<p><strong>Which U.S. department store website was the most popular on Facebook during the holiday season?&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>You may be surprised to learn it was Sears.com, which is not in the top-10 shopping sites. Walmart.com, which is in the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.alexa.com/topsites/category/Shopping">top 10</a>, came in second.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The findings come from a new study by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2014/12/report-shows-super-spenders-are-more-reliant-on-organic-search.html">Searchmetrics</a> that analyzed the number of Facebook Likes, comments and shares for top U.S. retail store websites. The study actually serves as further proof that consumers are using social media as a discovery tool (the same way they do search) for finding product information online.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;It makes sense retailers are trying to generate social activity and mentions on Facebook as growing evidence shows that consumers are using social media as a key discovery tool for finding information online,&rdquo; said Marcus Tober CTO and founder of Searchmetrics. &ldquo;And of course it is a powerful recommendation if consumers see Likes, shares and positive comments about a retailer or its products from their own Facebook friends.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>As an indication of Facebook&rsquo;s growing power in this area, SearchmetricsTober quoted a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2014/12/report-shows-super-spenders-are-more-reliant-on-organic-search.html">recent Forrester study</a> of nearly 5,000 US consumers, which revealed that Facebook came second only to Google as a source for finding information &ndash; ahead of TV ads and TV shows.</p>
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<h4><img style="float:left;" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/subarrow.png" width="20" height="20" alt="" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/email_newsletter.aspx?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=WMcontent-oct14">Request Website Magazine&#39;s Free Weekly Newsletters&nbsp;</a></h4>
<hr /><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=40619" width="1" height="1">searchmetricswm-sociallmediaholidays 2014Twitter Lets Complainers Unitehttp://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/28/twitter-lets-complainers-unite.aspxWed, 28 Jan 2015 18:05:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:40553Amberly Dressler0http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=40553http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/28/twitter-lets-complainers-unite.aspx#comments<hr />
<p>Something looks pretty familiar over at Twitter...its <a target="_blank" href="https://blog.twitter.com/2015/now-on-twitter-group-direct-messages-and-mobile-video-capture">just-announced</a> mobile video camera and private group messaging looks at lot like some of its social media brethren. </p>
<p>Twitter&#39;s new private conversations allow users to converse with a group of up to 20 people who may prefer to talk about tweets &quot;privately&quot; (see Twitter&#39;s example below). The problem, however, is that unlike Instagram and Facebook (where group messaging can also take place), Twitter is known to be a <a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2013/11/01/twitter-is-for-complainers.aspx" target="_blank">haven for complainers</a>. This gives us a nagging feeling that not all private conversations are going to be about kittens and rainbows, especially since users are already leveraging Twitter to direct message brands.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img height="486" width="450" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/twitter-group-messages.png" style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" alt="" /></p>
<p>This could be a customer service headache, as someone can start a conversation with a dozen-plus of their closest friends about a bad experience he or she had with that company. Users can essentially &quot;cc&quot; their friends. Now, instead of one upset customer to manage, brands have to find a way to move multiple users off of the public forum (even if it&#39;s a private message) to a more appropriate place (like phone, email, etc.). Banks and other regulated industries will need to be even more careful in moving the conversations to a secure place. </p>
<p>On the opposite end of the spectrum, Twitter&#39;s other announcement is one that brands can utilize to increase engagement - the social network&#39;s new mobile video camera, which allows users to capture, edit and share videos right from the Twitter app. According to Twitter&#39;s blog, &quot;In just a few taps you can add a video to unfolding conversations, share your perspective of a live event, and show your everyday moments instantly, without ever having to leave the app. Viewing and playing videos is just as simple: videos are previewed with a thumbnail and you can play them with just one tap.&quot;
</p>
<p>Twitter&#39;s mobile video camera lets users capture and share videos up to 30 seconds. This is currently available on Twitter for iPhone and will be available on its Android app soon.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The first Tweet using the mobile video camera was from Oscars host <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH">Neil Patrick Harris</a>.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>Check out my Twitter video <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oscar?src=hash">#Oscar</a> exclusive! I gots me a scoop! <a href="http://t.co/SGQ3oJHDqZ">pic.twitter.com/SGQ3oJHDqZ</a></p>
&mdash; Neil Patrick Harris (@ActuallyNPH) <a href="https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/560049149836808192">January 27, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<script src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
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<h4><img height="20" width="20" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/subarrow.png" style="float:left;" alt="" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/email_newsletter.aspx?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=WMcontent-oct14">Request Website Magazine&#39;s Free Weekly Newsletters&nbsp;</a></h4>
<hr /><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=40553" width="1" height="1">twitterwm-sociallmediaTwitter direct messagesTwitter mobile video cameraAre Social Referrals Driving 30% of YOUR Traffic?http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/28/are-social-referrals-driving-30-of-your-traffic.aspxWed, 28 Jan 2015 17:25:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:40557Pete Prestipino0http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=40557http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/28/are-social-referrals-driving-30-of-your-traffic.aspx#comments<p><strong>Social media is many things - but it has not traditionally/historically been a steady source of traffic for websites. This seems to be changing at least according to one new report.&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>Shareaholic just released its Social Media Traffic Report and for many it confirms that the shift from search to social has reached a point that it will be difficult to ignore moving forward. The data reveals that the top eight social networks drove 31.24 percent of overall traffic to sites in Dec. 2014, up from 22.71 percent the same time last year.&nbsp;</p>
<p>What&#39;s the reason for shift? Shareaholic&#39;s Danny Wong suggested that &quot;Over the years (and in 2014, especially), our media consumption habits have changed dramatically. We rely less on homepages and search engines, discovering news pertinent to us through social media and direct messaging on mobile apps.&quot;</p>
<p>It&#39;s tough to deny the influence of social media today, but it&#39;s equally difficult to believe that Facebook and its competitors are managing to drive such a significant volume of traffic - unless that&#39;s the primary way traffic is generated (as is probably the case with Shareaholic users).&nbsp;</p>
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<h4><img style="float:left;" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/subarrow.png" width="20" height="20" alt="" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/email_newsletter.aspx?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=WMcontent-oct14">Request Website Magazine&#39;s Free Weekly Newsletters&nbsp;</a></h4>
<hr />
<p><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/shareaholic-smtr.jpg" width="691" height="428" alt="" /></p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=40557" width="1" height="1">wm-sociallmediaDNN's New Evoq 8 In a Digital Nutshellhttp://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/27/dnn-s-new-evoq-8-in-a-digital-nutshell.aspxTue, 27 Jan 2015 18:30:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:40528Amberly Dressler0http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=40528http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/27/dnn-s-new-evoq-8-in-a-digital-nutshell.aspx#comments<hr />
<p>Today&rsquo;s marketers are responsible for an increasing number of functions within their enterprises. In fact, <a href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/" target="_blank">DNN</a> found that the majority of marketers at mid-size companies manage five or more functions and more than half (53 percent) rely on five or more discrete technology solutions to do so &ndash; adding complexity to their already-complex positions.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Following this telling <a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2014/05/19/marketers-are-drowning-in-tech-amp-tasks-infographic.aspx" target="_blank">research</a>, DNN announced general availability of Evoq 8 (Website Magazine previewed it <a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/pages/this-way-to-the-future-forward-thinking-content-management-systems.aspx" target="_blank">here</a> last October), which enables marketers to essentially do more with less, as it empowers them to publish content to any online channel, personalize it to each visitor and measure its effectiveness all within Evoq 8.&nbsp;</p>
<p>For those already familiar with Evoq, they may be aware that many of its features were tailored to IT professionals &ndash; something that can be intimidating to the everyday content writer or business user. The new Evoq experience, however, is suited for anyone who can drag and drop, yet wants and needs the ability to publish content to any online channel and then measure its effectiveness. As DNN VP of Product Management Will Morgenweck put it in an interview with Website Magazine, DNN has taken the drag-and-drop experience and laid it on top of DNN&rsquo;s powerful platform, without comprising any of the aspects that have been DNN&rsquo;s strongpoints.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Some of the new features of Evoq 8 include the ability for marketers and content writers to quickly see how their content is performing on both a page level and the site as a whole (see dashboard image below). They are able to see statistics on page views, referrers, unique visitors and conversions, which are presented as an overlay on each Web page, via data collected and managed by Evoq. This means every user can see how content is performing without needing a high level of proficiency with analytics or access to a separate Web analytics system. Users can also view a navigation summary, to see how people are coming to the page and how they are leaving.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img height="331" width="450" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/evoq8-analytics.png" style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" alt="" /></p>
<p>Also new to Evoq 8 are configurations with Box, Dropbox, Amazon S3 and SharePoint, so that users can access all digital assets from a single window &ndash; eliminating the need to visit various cloud storage solutions to pull up images, content or other files needed to create or update content in Evoq (see image below).</p>
<p><img height="404" width="550" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/evoq8-assets.png" style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" alt="" /></p>
<p>Perhaps most interesting to content writers and marketers is the ability to personalize site content based on visitors&rsquo; profiles. They can create rules based on geography, account registration (e.g. registered versus non-registered), gender, age, recent visits, referral source, search terms and ad clicks. While content personalization can be labor intensive (the different content versions do need to be created, after all), Evoq 8 gives users the ability to change a single piece of content &ndash; for example, copy that simply says &ldquo;Nice to See You Again&rdquo; for returning visitors or &ldquo;Welcome&rdquo; for new ones.</p>
<p>To further Evoq&rsquo;s visitor profiles, it plans to integrate with CRMs as early as this summer. &nbsp;</p>
<p>The final piece of Evoq 8&rsquo;s &ldquo;pie,&rdquo; is its advocate marketing update. Evoq 8 helps marketers activate brand advocates already on their website by rewarding them (e.g. awarding points, giving badges, showing up in a leader-board, etc.) for completing certain actions, like sharing content on their personal social networks. In turn, companies are able to see what happens on the other end of the share. For example, did this person bring back 100 people of which 10 percent registered? The company is also able to get basic authorization on their social accounts and verify name and email address, get their social media picture to add to their customer profile, check to see how many people their social media post reached, number of views, likes and comments, etc., from Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.&nbsp;</p>
<p>These analytics, personalization, cloud storage configurations and advocate marketing updates are Evoq 8 in a nutshell, but, in even further summary, Evoq 8 is easier to use and more empowering to the everyday user than the versions that have come before it, while going beyond what most people expect a content management system to do.&nbsp;</p>
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<h4><img style="float:left;" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/subarrow.png" width="20" height="20" alt="" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/email_newsletter.aspx?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=WMcontent-oct14">Request Website Magazine&#39;s Free Weekly Newsletters&nbsp;</a></h4>
<hr /><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=40528" width="1" height="1">content management systemwm-softwarewm-sociallmediadnnWill MorgenweckEvoq 8Use These Content Discovery Tools to Boost Content Marketing Resultshttp://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/23/using-content-discovery-tools-to-boost-your-content-marketing-efforts.aspxFri, 23 Jan 2015 16:15:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:40394Administrator1http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=40394http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/23/using-content-discovery-tools-to-boost-your-content-marketing-efforts.aspx#comments<p>:: By Jessica Davis, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.godotmedia.com/">Godot Media</a> ::
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<p>Content discovery tools are the best thing since sliced bread - for the content marketer at least. With so much being said and written about content marketing, its significance needn&rsquo;t be explained; especially now in the era of Web 2.0 when search engines have sharpened their focus on high-quality content.&nbsp;</p>
<p>To drive sales and grow consistently businesses today must focus on content marketing as much as other traditional approaches to marketing. The content shared needs to be engaging and must add value. It is also important to ensure that such high-value, high-engagement content is created steadily and consistently. And content discovery tools make it easier to find and share relevant content from across the web.</p>
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<p>So here they are &ndash; four of the niftiest, most easy-to-use tools that can help boost a company&#39;s content marketing efforts while keeping costs and efforts low.</p>
<h3><a target="_blank" href="https://hootsuite.com/">Hootsuite&nbsp;</a></h3>
<p>Not only does Hootsuite allow the user to discover great (entertaining, engaging and shareable) content online, but it also lets them manage multiple social media accounts using a single Web-based dashboard.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Hootsuite&#39;s Suggested Content feature takes into account the user&rsquo;s post history on social media, say Twitter, analyzes the Tweets that have been interacted with, and then makes Tweet recommendations based on the posts that have been most well-received. The user has the option of scheduling the suggested posts automatically, or viewing them and posting/removing them as you wish. Not just the suggested posts, a user can also schedule all Hootsuite discovered posts in advance from the dashboard.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In addition, Hootsuite allows the user to monitor and measure engagement metrics, such as likes, shares, conversations and social media conversions. Google Analytics, Facebook Insights and a host of other analytics help measure and fine-tune the content marketing strategy in an easy, efficient and cost-effective way.&nbsp;</p>
<h3><a target="_blank" href="http://www.scoop.it/">Scoop.it&nbsp;</a></h3>
<p>Scoop.it is another popular content discovery tool that allows the user to discover and share content in an easy and efficient way. Scoop.it however, wins some extra points over Hootsuite, because of its sharing platform. A user can share the &ldquo;scoops&rdquo; that he/she discovers through a simple keyword search across the largest selection of social networks, using the tool&#39;s highly customizable sharing platform.&nbsp;</p>
<p>On a personal Scoop.it dashboard, the user can create different Web pages, which are called &ldquo;topics&rdquo; and then add content pieces or scoops to it. For instance, take the topic &ldquo;Best Social Media Tools,&rdquo; give Scoop.it some relevant keywords, and click on &ldquo;Create.&rdquo; The app generates a continuous stream of suggested scoops (see screenshot below) that can be added to the dashboard and shared easily. The user may also choose to publish posts using other social media tools, widgets and RSS feeds.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img height="273" width="452" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/scoopit-suggestions.png" style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" alt="" /></p>
<h3><a target="_blank" href="http://drumup.io/">DrumUp&nbsp;</a></h3>
<p>DrumUp has a fresh take on content discovery and social media presence management. The app simplifies both content discovery and sharing, while providing an array of customization options for both. It is a cool, clean app that needs little input to get rolling.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The user simply has to key-in the content themes, and the app will identify popular content from the Web, relevant to the selected audience. The posts to the user&rsquo;s Facebook and Twitter pages are scheduled according to the time zone input, and the user can run the app in manual share or auto-share mode. Completely fresh, custom posts can be added and scheduled as well. Since DrumUp is currently in process of acquiring early users, it is currently available for free.&nbsp;</p>
<h3><a target="_blank" href="https://bufferapp.com/">Buffer</a></h3>
<p>Another cool and clean app for content discovery and social media management, Buffer likes to keep things conventional. The app supports the &ldquo;big four&rdquo; of social networks &ndash; Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and LinkedIn, allowing the user to seamlessly share great content across the four platforms with supreme ease.&nbsp;</p>
<p>It allows the user to schedule posts days, weeks and months in advance. There is a &ldquo;Suggestions&rdquo; feature on Buffer as well, which picks popular content across different categories such as marketing, business and startups, inspiration, lifehack or simply, Buffer picks. While DrumUp is a free tool, you can use Buffer for free for a limited time.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img height="348" width="450" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/buffer-demo-screenshot.png" style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" alt="" /></p>
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<p>Author Bio:</p>
<p>Jessica Davis is a senior contributor from the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.godotmedia.com/">Godot Media</a> team, a leading content marketing company. She tracks social media and content marketing space closely.</p>
<div></div><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=40394" width="1" height="1">wmfeaturewm-sociallmediaJessica DavisGodot MediaB2bufferTwitter Caters to Its Largely Inactive Audience http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/22/twitter-caters-to-its-largely-inactive-audience.aspxThu, 22 Jan 2015 17:30:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:40386Amberly Dressler0http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=40386http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/22/twitter-caters-to-its-largely-inactive-audience.aspx#comments<hr />
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-is-a-daily-habit-in-the-us-while-twitter-users-log-on-less-often-2013-12" target="_blank">Sixty-three</a> percent of Facebook users log on the social network daily. On Twitter, brands are lucky if their followers log in weekly (more than half of Twitter users log in weekly or less often, combined). This means the majority of a brand&rsquo;s followers are not seeing their messaging on a regular basis. What&#39;s more, at the speed of which the Twitter feed refreshes, companies are lucky to get their tweets in front of followers at all.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Determined by engagement and &ldquo;other factors,&rdquo; Twitter will now surface a few of the &ldquo;best&rdquo; Tweets a user may have missed while they were gone. According to <a target="_blank" href="https://blog.twitter.com/2015/while-you-were-away-0">Twitter&rsquo;s blog</a> those users who already spend a lot of time on Twitter will see this snapshot less, while inactive users will see it more.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Recaps, marked with a &ldquo;While you were away&rdquo; heading, began to appear for all Twitter for iOS users on Jan. 21, according to Twitter&#39;s blog, and on Android app and twitter.com soon.</p>
<p><img height="505" width="248" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/while-you-were-away.png" style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" alt="" /></p>
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<h4><img style="float:left;" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/subarrow.png" width="20" height="20" alt="" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/email_newsletter.aspx?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=WMcontent-oct14">Request Website Magazine&#39;s Free Weekly Newsletters&nbsp;</a></h4>
<hr /><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=40386" width="1" height="1">twitterwm-sociallmediatwitter feedTwitter for iOSThe Great Ruse; Social Media & Customer Servicehttp://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/21/the-great-ruse-social-media-amp-customer-service.aspxWed, 21 Jan 2015 18:25:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:40345Pete Prestipino1http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=40345http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/21/the-great-ruse-social-media-amp-customer-service.aspx#comments<p><strong>A new survey from M2Talk reveals the channels consumers are actually using for customer service - and it&#39;s not social media.</strong></p>
<p>Social media has been touted as a cure for nearly every digital ill, from low conversion rates to poor engagement metrics. The trouble is, every data point seems to point in the opposite direction. The M2Talk survey indicates that the phone (33 percent) is still the most popular form of contact for customer service followed by email (32 percent). Live chat (21 percent) and even in-person contact (10 percent) beat out social media, which garnered just 2 percent of the responses. </p>
<p>Clearly, &#39;Net professionals are starting to see that social media isn&#39;t the panacea everyone hoped it would be. With evidence emerging this week that <a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/19/drop-social-sharing-pick-up-conversions.aspx">social sharing icons distract users</a>, digital enterprises are going to need to think long and hard about their use of the channel. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://m2talk.com/blog/studies/consumer-behaviors-towards-multi-channel-customer-service/">M2Talk survey</a> provides some other interesting highlights, including that 72 percent indicated they have threatened to cancel service or buy a competitor&rsquo;s product to resolve a customer service issue. Of those who said yes, 87.1 percent said they followed through and did cancel service.&nbsp;</p>
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<h4><img height="20" width="20" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/subarrow.png" style="float:left;" alt="" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/email_newsletter.aspx?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=WMcontent-oct14">Request Website Magazine&#39;s Free Weekly Newsletters&nbsp;</a></h4>
<hr /><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=40345" width="1" height="1">customer servicewmfeaturewm-sociallmediaM2Talk surveyTrack Audience Thoughts & Behaviors with Mattrhttp://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/21/track-audience-thoughts-amp-behaviors-with-mattr.aspxWed, 21 Jan 2015 18:15:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:40348Pete Prestipino0http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=40348http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/21/track-audience-thoughts-amp-behaviors-with-mattr.aspx#comments<p>Marketing insight platform <a href="http://www.mattr.co/" target="_blank">Mattr</a> announced two new features to help marketers compare the mindset and activities of their audiences and influencers over time, monitoring how brand engagement evolves throughout the course of a campaign (and providing valuable metrics for proving ROI in marketing to influencers in the process).&nbsp;</p>
<p>Mattr&#39;s new Time Machine feature provides marketers with access to a campaign&rsquo;s aggregate data metrics (meaning, from when it was first created), which provides a baseline view of the thoughts and behavior of an audience. Access to that information gives marketers an opportunity to perform &quot;before-and-after&quot; analysis..&nbsp;</p>
<p>The company&#39;s new Brand Tracker feature allows marketers to see exactly how their brand is evolving in near real-time, providing marketers with metrics about every Twitter user, enabling them to compare awareness and engagement (shows gains and losses in follower numbers) during a campaign for any Twitter handle.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Time Machine and Brand Tracker provide marketers with even more insight into their audience,&rdquo; said Jack Holt, CEO of Mattr. &ldquo;Everyone in marketing is concerned with proving ROI and these new features give our users the ability to track the progress they&rsquo;re making on two different fronts - with specific influencers and audiences, and also at a broader brand level.&rdquo;</p>
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<h4><img height="20" width="20" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/subarrow.png" style="float:left;" alt="" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/email_newsletter.aspx?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=WMcontent-oct14">Request Website Magazine&#39;s Free Weekly Newsletters&nbsp;</a></h4>
<hr /><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=40348" width="1" height="1">wm-sociallmediamattrCorporate SEO Checklist for Your YouTube Videohttp://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/07/corporate-seo-checklist-for-your-youtube-video.aspxWed, 07 Jan 2015 17:30:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:39974Administrator0http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=39974http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2015/01/07/corporate-seo-checklist-for-your-youtube-video.aspx#comments<p>:: By Ryan Chester, <a href="http://www.annexcore.com/" target="_blank">AnnexCore.com</a> ::
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<p>Imagine if the Amazon River was filled with gold and you could divert it to your backyard. Well that is what YouTube has recently become, a goldmine of traffic. It offers a great opportunity to quickly attract tons of traffic to your website.</p>
<p>That&rsquo;s why corporations worldwide are trying to figure out the magic of optimizing for YouTube.</p>
<p>Using this list you can make your video stand out in the crowded searches of YouTube and divert traffic to your website.</p>
<h3>Get Your Video&rsquo;s Keywords</h3>
<p>First thing you should go attack is your competitors&#39; videos. Find out what keywords they are using in their titles.</p>
<p>You can combine this list with an <a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2014/12/23/the-keyword-research-guide.aspx" target="_blank">old fashion keyword research</a> you would do for a SEO campaign.</p>
<h3>BIG Descriptions not small ones</h3>
<p>Even as Google gets smarter and smarter, it still hasn&rsquo;t decoded your videos to figure out what they are about.&nbsp;</p>
<p>With huge video descriptions it gives more keywords to index, more reference points and more to read for your viewers.</p>
<p>This will help make YouTube&rsquo;s job easier to know what your video about. When viewers are like me, we always read the description to learn more about a good video.</p>
<p>Take out that list we made in the previous checkpoint called &ldquo;Video Keywords.&rdquo; Now spread those keywords throughout your description, but write for a human still and not to just stuff keywords. For example,the Smithsonian&#39;s National Zoo includes the who, what, when and whys of its video.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQZ3-OD0ml0"><img height="382" width="550" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/bao-bao-snow.png" style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" alt="" /></a></p>
<h3>Share. Share. Share</h3>
<p>Get on LinkedIn, Quora and Twitter and find out people who are asking for help. Then share. See some tactful ways to do so <a target="_blank" href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/pages/thinking-outside-the-blog-post.aspx">here</a>.</p>
<h3>Get Subscriptions &amp; Likes</h3>
<p>When you ask, you shall receive as the old adage says. This is why you should take a moment at the end of your video to ask the viewers to subscribe and like your video. It only takes a moment.</p>
<p>This is vital to ranking your YouTube video because it doesn&rsquo;t consider links in its ranking factors and looks at things such as subscriptions, views and liking.</p>
<p>Calls-to-action (CTAs) are necessary. Why was YouTube a hit in the first place? It had plenty of share options to share throughout the website. In this video (screenshot below), The Tonight Show asks viewers to subscribe now and includes a bitly link.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1dW8M4EqYY&amp;list=PLrEnWoR732-BHrPp_Pm8_VleD68f9s14-&amp;index=3"><img height="399" width="550" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/fallon-subscribenow.png" style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" alt="" /></a></p>
<h3>Create Playlists like You Would for Your iPod</h3>
<p>We all like stuff organized. It gives us a peace of mind. Let&rsquo;s do the same for your video channel. Organize it by playlists.</p>
<p>Now bring out that keyword list we made earlier, and use it here to name your playlist properly. It&rsquo;ll help that rank, and in-turn bring you even more traffic.</p>
<h3>A Final Checklist Item</h3>
<p>All my tips above can help you only if the video you publish is worth seeing. Don&rsquo;t expect for it to go viral, if it isn&rsquo;t worthy of sharing. The tips above will help a good video get the recognition it deserves!</p>
<hr />
<p>Ryan Chester is a digital marketing connoisseur. Having helped <a href="http://www.annexcore.com/" target="_blank">Fortune 500s with AnnexCore.com</a>, and many other companies across the globe achieve success with search engine optimization, email marketing, pay-per-click campaigns, and countless other improvements.</p>
<h4><img style="float:left;" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/subarrow.png" width="20" height="20" alt="" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/email_newsletter.aspx?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=WMcontent-oct14">Request Website Magazine&#39;s Free Weekly Newsletters&nbsp;</a></h4><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=39974" width="1" height="1">youtubeyoutube optimizationwm-searchmarketingwm-sociallmediaRyan ChesterAnnexCore.comIs Your Social Media Helping or Hurting Your Employer?http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2014/11/30/is-your-social-media-helping-or-hurting-your-employer.aspxSun, 30 Nov 2014 13:00:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:38678Administrator5http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=38678http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2014/11/30/is-your-social-media-helping-or-hurting-your-employer.aspx#comments<p>:: By Abby Perkins, <a href="https://softwareproviders.com/" target="_blank">Software Providers</a> ::
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<p>Social media is a great way to connect with friends and coworkers. It&#39;s also a platform on which you can help your employer by promoting your company. But on the other hand, what you innocently (or not so innocently) communicate online can hurt your employer and even cost you your job.&nbsp;</p>
<p>When Shea Allen, a Huntsville, AL reporter, published a post titled &quot;No Apologies: Confessions of a Red Headed Reporter&quot; on her personal blog, she didn&#39;t think much about it &ndash; even though in the post, she admitted to stealing mail and napping in the news van on the job. Understandably, that didn&rsquo;t reflect well on her or her employer, and she was fired soon after.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Allen&#39;s story, which made the news as one of the <a href="http://www.sterlingeducation.com/the-sterling-blog/bid/99691/Top-5-Employee-Social-Media-Fails-of-2013" target="_blank">top employee social media fails of 2013</a>, might seem like premeditated career suicide. But in reality, these gaffes are more common than you might think. Below are some tips to help you avoid hurting yourself and your employer with your social media posts. Follow them, and you could even help boost your employer&rsquo;s reputation &ndash; and your own career.</p>
<h3>1. Update your security settings</h3>
<p>It&#39;s easy to forget who you&#39;ve friended on social media, especially if that number is in the hundreds. Is your boss on your &ldquo;friends&rdquo; list? If so, you might want to keep a low profile, place your coworkers on a &quot;restricted profile view&quot; list, or rethink friending your boss and coworkers altogether. Also, remember that if your security settings allow friends of friends or &quot;the public&quot; to view your posts and comments, your communications will be visible to your boss &ndash; whether you are Facebook friends or not.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/social-media-privacy-Lock.png" width="550" height="410" alt="" /></p>
<h3>2. Watch what you say online</h3>
<p>The old adage &quot;If you can&#39;t say something nice, don&#39;t say anything at all&quot; applies here. Go ahead and add your co-workers and boss to your social media circles, but be prepared to <a href="https://talenttribune.softwareproviders.com/5-ways-employer-proof-social-media-presence/" target="_blank">practice self-restraint</a>. Negative work-related social media posts can quickly get you into hot water with your boss &ndash; but you can also potentially get in trouble for offensive posts, excessive drug- and alcohol-related posts, and more. When it involves social media, the best rule of thumb is to never post anything online that you wouldn&#39;t want the entire world to see.</p>
<h3>3. Protect your employer&#39;s interests</h3>
<p>If you post negative or insider information on social media that&#39;s related to your workplace, you can be held accountable in a big way for the effects of your posts. According to <a href="http://www.theemployerhandbook.com/2011/03/fact-employers-can-sue-employe.html" target="_blank">The Employer Handbook</a>, &quot;employers can sue employees for social networking.&quot; For example, you could face legal consequences if your posts &quot;place your employer at a competitive disadvantage.&quot; Stay safe by avoiding posting specifics about your job altogether.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>4. Job hunting? Play your cards close to your chest &nbsp;</h3>
<p><img height="438" width="550" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/keeping-a-secret.png" style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" alt="" /></p>
<p>We all have friends on social media who love to jump the gun when it comes to work-related changes. But online comments about job interviews, pending promotions or the possibility of being hired won&#39;t score you any points with present or future employers. Keep career-building activities under wraps until you officially receive a promotion or accept a new offer and have given your current employer fair notice that you&#39;re leaving.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>5. Become a company cheerleader</h3>
<p>A simple way to keep your social media accounts employer-friendly? Periodically post good things about your boss, your company and your job. Overdoing it will come off as insincere, but just posting a positive work-related anecdote on Facebook or writing a pro-employer article on your personal blog could raise brand awareness for your company and help your employer attract new business. You might even earn kudos for being such a proactive member of the team.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The bottom line? You can use social media to help or hurt both your employer and your standing within the company. Be cautious, because if you hurt your employer, you might be hurting yourself as well.</p>
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<p>Abby Perkins is Editor in Chief at <a href="https://softwareproviders.com/" target="_blank">Software Providers</a>, where she writes about jobs, workplace culture, and HR technology. &nbsp;</p>
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<h4><img height="20" width="20" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/subarrow.png" style="float:left;" alt="" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/email_newsletter.aspx?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=WMcontent-oct14">Request Website Magazine&#39;s Free Weekly Newsletters&nbsp;</a></h4><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=38678" width="1" height="1">wmfeaturewm-moverswm-sociallmediaAbby PerkinsSoftware Providerssocia media adviceWhen to Tweet & Post This Holiday Seasonhttp://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2014/11/26/when-to-tweet-amp-post-this-holiday-season.aspxWed, 26 Nov 2014 17:35:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:38908Amberly Dressler0http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=38908http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2014/11/26/when-to-tweet-amp-post-this-holiday-season.aspx#comments<hr />
<p>It should come as no surprise that e-commerce retailers turn to Twitter and Facebook more in December than any other month, but how do they stand out from the crowd?</p>
<p>Salesforce Marketing Cloud <a href="http://www.exacttarget.com/blog/top-social-media-benchmarks-for-the-retail-and-e-commerce-industry/" target="_blank">recently analyzed</a> more than 3 million tweets and 2 million Facebook posts and found several key insights for the e-commerce and retail industry. For starters, as brands tweet more in the holiday months, consumers respond - nearly doubling the amount of replies to retail companies. The takeaway here is that brands should tweet often during the holidays. Salesforce&#39;s data indicates that in Dec. 2013, retweets for retail brands reached 27.1 on average (compared to the average of 11.5 for the whole year). </p>
<p>Salesforce also found that consumers are most engaged with retail brands on Twitter on Thursdays and Fridays, while Facebook engagement is highest on Fridays and Saturdays (see image - and click to zoom in). &nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/facebook-engagement-salesforce.png" target="_blank"><img style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/facebook-engagement-salesforce_resized.png" width="550" height="213" alt="" /></a></p>
<p>While each brand should look at their own analytics and insights to find the optimal times for posting social media content, Marketing Cloud Data unveiled a peak in Twitter engagement from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. CST for retail and e-commerce brands. For Facebook, posting between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. CT garner the highest rates of likes and links clicked.</p>
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<h4><img height="20" width="20" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/subarrow.png" style="float:left;" alt="" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/email_newsletter.aspx?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=WMcontent-oct14">Request Website Magazine&#39;s Free Weekly Newsletters&nbsp;</a></h4>
<hr /><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=38908" width="1" height="1">facebooktwitterwm-sociallmediaSalesforce Marketing Cloudbest times to post on social mediaHow Important Is ‘Word of Mouth’ To Your Web Marketing Strategy?http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2014/11/26/how-important-is-word-of-mouth-to-your-web-marketing-strategy.aspxWed, 26 Nov 2014 15:30:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:38774Administrator0http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=38774http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2014/11/26/how-important-is-word-of-mouth-to-your-web-marketing-strategy.aspx#comments<p>By Matthew Langham, <a href="http://www.searchlaboratory.com">Search Laboratory</a></p>
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<p>Word-of-mouth marketing may have evolved from phone calls and face-to-face conversations to social media posts and comments, but its importance remains the same.</p>
<p>Marketing guru, Geno Church, found that there are three appropriate types of engaging with consumers through social media and word of mouth:</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;"><strong>&bull;<span> </span>Functional - </strong>People engage in functional conversations about brands to get information needed to make decisions and to better interpret the world around them.</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;"><strong>&bull;<span> </span>Social -</strong> People engage in social conversations about brands to impress others, to express uniqueness and to increase their reputation.</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;"><strong>&bull;<span> </span>Emotional </strong>- Brands that invoke strong emotional feelings are more likely to be talked about. Make sure your brand is evoking a strong emotional trigger. It hits home the most.</p>
<p>These three means of conversing allow for the online to become offline, which means a significant increase in audience reach.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Church states the idea that during online conversation the consumer can respond whenever is best for them in a non-active approach. On the other hand, offline conversation has an immediacy which demands a natural, often more emotional response.</p>
<p>Below are three examples where businesses have taken advantage of the Web and word of mouth to maximize their brand reach, both online and off:</p>
<h3>ALS Association</h3>
<p>Without doubt one of the biggest online viral sensations to be released in 2014, the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.alsa.org/fight-als/ice-bucket-challenge.html">Ice Bucket Challenge</a>&nbsp;raised more than $115 million. It started with a small following and with the help of social media the awareness grew global. Even George Bush, Usain Bolt and Tom Cruise joined in the fun to help raise funds to cure Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis disease. The success of this campaign will be difficult - if not impossible - to repeat, but the ALS Assocation provides a good example of doing its part in fueling the campaign and the residual effects by creating videos of its own, emailing new supporters and developing other content marketing (like an infographic detailing its <a target="_blank" href="http://web.alsa.org/site/PageNavigator/Infographic_Research.html">research priorities</a>).&nbsp;</p>
<p><img height="195" width="500" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/als-ice-bucket-challenge.png" style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" alt="" /></p>
<h3>Superdry</h3>
<p>Since being founded in 1985, UK based fashion brand, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.superdry.com/us/">Superdry</a>, has always rallied against the mainstream in order to create a unique brand which sets its self out from the rest.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Founder, Julian Dunkerton, sent David Beckham a number of garments on the off-chance that he would wear them and be <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1295553/Superdry--David-Beckham-Kate-Winslet-helped-trendy-label-grow.html">seen in the press</a>. Fortunately David brought Superdry luck, along with numerous celebrities including Zak Efron, Kate Winslet (pictured) and Justin Beiber, who were seen in the press wearing the brand. This enabled interaction between brand and customer, which saw a large spike in online sales both in the UK and the U.S. Additionally, the e-commerce benefits were that Superdry was able to add to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.superdry.com/mens/jackets/details/27194/brad-leather-jacket">its product page</a>, &quot;as worn by David Beckham&quot; or other celebrities, which could have increased conversion. (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1295553/Superdry--David-Beckham-Kate-Winslet-helped-trendy-label-grow.html">Photo source</a>.)</p>
<p><img height="589" width="450" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/kate-winslet-superdry.png" style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" alt="" /></p>
<h3>Starbucks</h3>
<p>With a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2013/11/01/starbucks-serves-solomo-extra-hot.aspx">robust digital marketing strategy</a>, Starbucks is considered to be one of the most notable companies to establish themselves on the Web, as well as generate plenty of offline communication with their customers. The sense of community has always being important ever since they opened their first caf&eacute; in 1971. To replicate this sense of emotion <a target="_blank" href="http://www.starbucks.com/">Starbucks</a> has continuously employed the ethic of engaging via social media to promote their use of the best coffee beans and offer the &lsquo;community feel,&rsquo; such as with one of its most recent campaigns that spanned promotional channels, &quot;<a target="_blank" href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/pages/3-brands-using-the-right-marketing-mix.aspx">Meet Me at Starbucks</a>.&quot;</p>
<p>Additionally, the company encourages customers to send in photos and discuss how they could improve their local branch. Finally, its red holiday cups generate a large spike in <a target="_blank" href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/pages/social-media-magic-tricks.aspx">social media engagement</a> every year by the use of the hashtags #RedCups and #StarbucksMoments.</p>
<p><img height="437" width="399" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/red-cups-tweet-starbucks-updated.png" style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" alt="" /></p>
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<p>Mathew&nbsp;<span>Langham&nbsp;</span><span>is a social media analyst who enjoys discussing the ongoing developments in the industry. He has worked in social media for three years.</span></p>
<h4><img style="float:left;" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/subarrow.png" width="20" height="20" alt="" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/email_newsletter.aspx?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=WMcontent-oct14">Request Website Magazine&#39;s Free Weekly Newsletters&nbsp;</a></h4><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=38774" width="1" height="1">starbuckswmfeaturewm-sociallmediaSuperdryALS Ice Bucket Challenge